WHO delivers life-saving medicine to eastern Aleppo City

WHO has supported hospitals and public health centres in five opposition-controlled areas in Aleppo governorate with medical supplies for over 60 500 treatments. Photo credit: WHO/SARC-Aleppo

22 February 2015, Aleppo – The World Health Organization (WHO) has delivered critical medicine and medical supplies to the eastern part of Aleppo city and rural Aleppo, where fighting has displaced up to 450 000 people.

Working with partners, such as the Syria Arab Red Crescent (SARC) and local nongovernmental organizations, WHO sent life-saving medicine and medical supplies to two hospitals in eastern Aleppo City and Al-Bab, as well as three public health centres in Azza, Daret Ezzeh, and Al-Atareb districts for approximately 60 500 medical treatments.

These deliveries which were sent from Damascus, will enable the hospital and the public health centres to treat patients with chronic illness, such as diabetes and hypertension.

Only four public hospitals remain operational in Aleppo governorate, 11 have been damaged, 5 of which are completely destroyed. Moreover, 132 primary health care centres have been damaged and only 16 are reported to be functioning. All health facilities are experiencing critical shortages in medicine and medical supplies.

Aleppo, which is Syria’s largest city and used to be known as its industrial capital, has witnessed some of the country’s worst violence since summer 2012.

Its estimated that 57% of the population is currently in need of humanitarian assistance, and the hard-to-reach areas in Aleppo have more than 1.3 million people in need living under extremely difficult conditions due to the disruption of inflows of basic goods and medicine, the deterioration of health care, and the constant shelling.